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May 19, 2009

Red Sox DHs Hitless Since Wednesday

A Red Sox designated hitter has not had a hit since the first inning last Wednesday.

After a flair that fell into short right-center for a single, David Ortiz went 0-for-his-last-10 against the Angels and Rocco Baldelli went 0-for-11 in Seattle over the weekend (though he did walk twice). Boston's DHs went 1-for-25 on the short west coast trip.

Sean McAdam offers a Quarterly Report in today's Herald. The Red Sox's starters' ERA (5.76) is tied for worst in the American League with Baltimore, they have played seven series against the trio of Tampa Bay, New York and Los Angeles and David Ortiz is slugging .300. Yet Boston has the third-best record in the AL and is tied for fourth in runs scored.

Kevin Youkilis played first base and lead off for Pawtucket last night. "I felt good. Just a little rusty ..." MLB.com: "In the first, he had a five-pitch at-bat, grounding out to third baseman Mike Lamb. Leading off in the third, he struck out on four pitches. In his final at-bat, he walked on four pitches."

Mark Kotsay may rejoin the Red Sox during this Blue Jays/Mets homestand.

14 comments:

Yet Boston has the third-best record in the AL and is tied for fourth in runs scored.Exactly why I haven't considered panicking. Youk is coming back. Lowrie may be back eventually. Daisuke is coming back. Beckett and Lester will only get better. Need I go on?

I say let Youk come back in the DH spot and swap him with Ortiz so he can get away from the pressure and go get his mind right in Pawtuckett. Maybe he can find out how to have fun again with the youth and find his sweet swing again or better yet figure out how to hit to left side with consistency.

What's at stake over this next three days? Either a half game back or 6.5 games back - or - more likely either 2.5 back or 4.5 games back. More than likely 4.5 games back puts the Yanks and Sox tied for third - or second if you prefer.

What's CLEAR is that the Jay's HITTING is for REAL. Hill and Lind are becoming the horses their talent and career path show is not unreasonable. Rolen "fixed" his swing last September - this year is just as it should be for him "if" the "fix" was real - obviously it was. Rios and Wells do what they do - give a team isolated - unpredictable - occasionally excellent production. Wells has been stealing important bases lately to get into scoring position - a sign he gives a shit. That's important for Wells who often sleep walks through life (as can Rios). The Jays have only 20 steals this year - but have been caught only three times.

The amazing - It can't be true can it? - question about the Jays is the starting pitching (their bullpen is, has been, and will continue to be excellent). It's one thing to get a pumpkin to turn into a Prince it's quite another to have a half dozen of the little beasties do it.

Tallet is a very good number four guy. Big lefty with good to excellent control and command and not easily fazed. Starting or in the pen - he is a formidable opponent. Cecil is simply the Jays number one pitching prospect a nasty lefty with a quiver of four sharp pointy sticks - anyone of which he will throw in any count. He'll eventually be a very solid number two guy. Ray is the Jay's number five best pitching prospect - but - the Jay's best right handed one. He, Richmond and Tallet all look like they were cloned in the same tall and skinny shop. Ray has the up side of a very solid number four guy.

Against these three we'll see "Knuckle," "Porky" and "Didn't you used to be a Prospect."

Get a cold one - sit back and prepare to savor getting sissy slapped by your 2009 AL Champion Toronto Blue Jays!

Exactly why I haven't considered panicking.I don't mean to pick on you, but this phrasing tickled my funny bone. Does one consider panicking before doing so?

No harm meant by calling it out, though. I know what you mean.

Legacy's comments on the Jays are very well taken. The AL East is not the three-way clusterfuck we were envisioning...it's a four-way. And it's just fucked. I don't know if the four best teams in the MLB are in the AL East, but four out of the best seven or eight probably are.

Or let papi play first to get into the rhythm. At least let him play first in Pawtucket. For christ sake he is not working out as is so fucking do something out of the box tito. Benching him so he can stew is far from ideal in my layman's opinion. I am a man though and I know how we dwell on failures until we can overcome them. It's mighty hard to overcome a failure on the field from the dugout.